


старое пламя

by hvtchner



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Natasha Romanov, Blood and Injury, F/F, Lesbian Natasha Romanov, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, POV Natasha Romanov, POV Third Person, Possible Character Death, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), angsty steve as usual, blood tw, it's unresolved, nat and maria go on a date :), perhaps, that's up to you, violence tw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:20:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29742810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hvtchner/pseuds/hvtchner
Summary: Natasha visits an old HYDRA base to retrieve some intel, and someone else knew she would be there.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 11
Kudos: 16





	1. chapter  one

“You should have killed me the  _ last _ time you had the chance,  _ Soldat.”  _

“How should I have known you would have survived falling off a building,  _ Vdova? _ ” The Winter Soldier sneered . “I didn’t have the time to follow you and ensure your death… meaningless in the scheme of things, at the time.” His accent is thick, lips turned down into a contemptuous scowl.

“They don’t know you failed to take me out the first time, all those years ago, do they?” No one’s around as they stare each other down at the abandoned HYDRA base. Natasha was there to retrieve lost intel for SHIELD, the Soldier was there to retrieve… her. HYDRA has long since gone underground. He had recognized his old friend Steve Rogers, but Barnes had a run-in with an old HYDRA agent who unluckily happened to remember his trigger words. Now he’s more like Barnes, a bit less like the Soldier, making him even more of a threat. The humanity and persona of his past self combined with the Soldier’s training and deadly drive to complete his missions… lethal. To a certain Natasha Romanova, at the moment. 

“They don’t know. And no one will ever have to, considering I’m about to finish the job.” 

“Are you? I’ve learned a lot since we met twelve years ago,  _ soldat.  _ Of course, you already know that.” 

“You improved the little leg move you like to do. You’re fucked though, if I get this hand around your throat again and the Panther isn’t around to save you.” His metal hand forms a fist as he takes a step toward her.

Natasha laughs dryly. “Didn’t know HYDRA taught it’s weapons to swear.” She’s smirking, a bit, just to mask her fear as she slowly reaches to her thigh holster for a knife. There’s a bit of comfort as she wraps her fingers around the handle of her favorite blade. 

“It’ll take more than that,  _ vdova. _ ” His eyes flick down to her hand as she pulls the knife from its holster. “I’ll be harder to take down than the pesky drug dealers you  _ subdue  _ on the daily. Then again, you won’t get that far.”

“Let’s see.” She whispers in the silence before lunging at him. Natasha flicks her wrist to look like she’s about to plant the knife in his side and he dodges, giving her a split second to land a kick at his jaw. He grunts and stumbles backward, giving her another opening to land a solid punch into his stomach. 

She gets cocky, apparently, because right when she’s about to take her knife to his throat, there’s a muted  _ slap _ as he throws his weight into a backhanded smack at her face. His knuckles caught her in the nose and her eyes start watering, badly enough to cloud her vision, and now they’re a few feet apart. There’ll be bad bruising and a black eye where his hand hit her, if she lives through the next few minutes, that is. 

“You could have just… just shot me, I never would’ve known you were here.” She wipes blood from under her nose with the back of her hand. 

“That’s…  _ impersonal.”  _ The Winter Soldier grunts as he stands, and she mirrors him. 

“Would have been easier.” She runs forward and punches him in the nose, hard. “ _ Hurts,  _ huh?” She shouts as slips under his arm and plants an elbow right into his back. The kidneys, where it really hurts. Before Natasha even notices he’s moved, his arm wraps around her midsection and in a split second she’s on the ground, the wind knocked out of her as she gasps for breath. He’s kneeling over her, straddling her midsection with her  _ own  _ knife pressed to her throat. 

“This is going to be  _ ridiculously _ satisfying.” The Soldier mutters from above her. 

“Please.” She whispers. “I’ve got a girl… at home. Her name’s Maria. This mission....” Her breath is wheezing as she tries to catch it again. “wasn’t supposed to be dangerous at all. I didn’t say goodbye to her. She isn’t even worried.”

“Not very satisfying to her, then.” The blade presses harder at her neck, drawing blood now. “Why should I care?” 

“ _ пожалуйста _ .” She whispers again.

“Have you ever begged for your life before,  _ вдова _ _? _ It seems to have worked in the past.” 

“Never. I’m hoping it works now, though.” She chuckles dryly, blood still dripping from her nose. “I have dinner plans. You could always join us.” 

“Maybe I’ll take your spot, have a little sit-down with  _ Maria _ .” He spits her name out of his mouth like it has a bad taste. “Meet her there and deliver her the good news… of your death, of course.” 

Natasha grins widely, effectively confusing him for a split second before she sinks her teeth into the wrist holding the blade at her throat and buries her _other_ knife in his stomach, blood immediately covering her hand and pooling onto her stomach. 

The Soldier doesn’t cry out. He just exhales a bit, and falls to his side next to her. Natasha props herself up on her elbow, leaning right into his face. “Should I let you die,  _ soldat? _ Steve wouldn’t be happy with me. He’d want me to save you, remind you  _ who you are _ .” She’s a bit mocking as she says the last part. 

A bit of blood trickles out of the corner of his mouth and he sighs. “I don’t assume you’d have a medical kit on you.” His voice is just the breath of a whisper. 

“No. I’ll call Steve, though. You’d better pray he gets here in time. He may not even be in the country.” She pushes herself up to stand, looking down at him. “I won’t be late to dinner over someone so…  _ meaningless, in the scheme of things _ , though.” Natasha smiles at him, taking her knife from his hand. “Have a good evening,  _ зимний солдат.” _

She hears a mumbled curse in Russian behind her as she walks away, hoping her colleague hadn’t fallen asleep on the Quinjet while he waited for her. It takes a few minutes to back up to ground level, considering the base was completely barren and there was no one to let her through any of the security measures. 

Steve’s waiting on the Quinjet, right where she left him.  _ Across the country… _ it was really satisfying to scare Barnes… almost as satisfying as it may have been for him to slit her throat. 

“Did you get it?” 

“No. Do you know how to stitch?” 

“Uhh, I can try. How’d you get hurt in there?”

“Not on me.” Natasha hands him a med bag from under a seat. “I’ll call another ride for you, I’m taking this. Beat it. Find the files if you can.” 

Visibly confused, Steve steps off the jet. 

“Rogers!” She shouts. “... It’s Barnes.” She turns away and clicks to close the ramp. Without looking, she hears the sound of Steve’s boots sprinting in the snow to find his best friend. 

~

“Sorry I’m late, I had a hold up with… what the hell happened to your face?” Maria sits down across from Natasha at their favorite restaurant. 

“Good evening to you, too, dear.” Natasha was already through her first glass of wine, having sat and waited for her date for quite a while. “... You should see the other guy.” 

Despite herself, Maria laughs. “I thought you said you weren’t even going to come in  _ contact _ with anyone. Who the hell did that?”    
  


“An old friend.” The far-off look on Natasha’s face clearly said it was time for a change of topic. 

“Did you happen to be with Rogers today, Nat?” 

She bites back a bitter laugh. “Yeah. Is he alright?” 

“I think he’s fine. Fury’s the only one with all the information, something’s going on.” Natasha’s silence is self-explanatory. “... Something’s telling me Fury’s not the only one with all the information.”

“Maybe, maybe not. What are you gonna order?” 

Maria’s silent for a bit, clearly trying to decide whether to pursue the topic. She apparently decides against it. 

“I’m not too hungry, wanna split something?” 

“Anything you want,  _ милая _ .” 

  
  
  
  



	2. chapter  two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just a short one cuz i kept writing lol,, soft blackhill :) <3

chapter two 

  
  


“Poor thing.” Maria’s sitting next to Natasha, who’s lying in bed with horrible swelling on her face. She winces everytime Maria carefully dabs at her eye with the cool cloth she’s holding.

“It’s not as bad as it looks.”, Natasha lies. 

“Bullshit.”, Maria kisses her forehead. “I’m calling in sick today.” 

“ _ Iмоя любовь _ , I’m  _ fine _ .” 

“I’m gonna call Fury.” 

“Fine. Let me call him, though. He’s probably worried.” 

Maria nods, reaching to the bedside table and handing Nat her cell. 

“Nick. Yeah. He made it? Good… disappointed? Of course I’m not disappointed.” A pause. “Hill’s calling in sick today, she’s insisting on… yeah. No, no, I’m fine. Just bruised up. Can I tell Hill what happened? Good, I would’ve done it anyway. Tell Rogers to give me a call when he gets the chance. Yeah, thanks. Bye.” 

There’s a few moments of silence, Natasha tracing a pattern on Maria’s thigh with her finger as she dabs at the redhead’s wound. 

“It was Barnes, wasn’t it?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Was he trying to kill you?”

“I… I think so. Hard to tell with him.” 

“And you didn’t kill him?” 

“I was going to. Steve never would have forgiven me, though.”   
  


“Were they together? Back in the day, I mean.” 

“I don’t know, probably. It’s a sensitive topic, we’ve never gotten around to it.” 

“Right. I’m glad you’re okay, Natasha.” Maria laces her fingers around her girlfriend’s. 

Nat smiles up at her, pulling their intertwined hands up to press a light kiss to the back of Maria’s.


	3. chapter  three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve ends up calling Natasha.

Two days later, Natasha’s face is feeling a bit better and Maria’s back at work. Reluctantly, for sure, but Nat assured her that she’s fine. 

In the middle of making a sandwich, her phone starts ringing. It’s Steve. She thinks so, at least. Natasha never saves contacts, tries to memorize phone numbers. 

“Hello?” She puts him on speaker so she can finish making her lunch. 

“Hey, Tasha.” She can’t tell if he sounds tired or relieved.

“How’s it goin’?”

“It’s… alright, actually. Buck and I are… away.” She doesn’t ask where, knowing she could figure it out if she really needs to.

“How bad is the stab wound?” 

“Inconvenient. He’s gonna make it, though.” The  _ no thanks to you _ goes unspoken.

“Good, good. That’s good.” A moment of silence. “I’d apologize, but he  _ was _ trying to kill me.”

“He… he’s very sorry about that part, Natasha. The… programming”, She can tell it’s hard for him to say, “is off and on. We’re trying to figure out how to fix that part.”

“Do you think there’s anything I can do? As a favor to you, of course.”

“Nothing I can think of. Thank you.”

“Are you guys… together? Or were you? It’s a personal question, but I did also get pretty up close and personal with his fist, so I think I deserve at least a little explanation.” 

Steve sighs. “Yeah. We’ve always been good friends, but it was more than that for a while. I’m still stuck on that part, he has more important things on his mind though. Like Nazi mind control.” 

Natasha laughs dryly. Poor, angsty Steve Rogers. Of course he’s still in love with his not-dead-anymore brainwashed best friend. “Sounds like you two need a lot more than couples counseling.”

“His bullshit is too much to unload on any poor therapist.” They both laugh. 

“I hope he’ll talk to you.” 

“Yeah. We… haven’t really  _ talked _ . He kissed me, though.”

“He kissed you?” Natasha pretends to not be surprised. “The guy that tried to mercilessly murder me two days ago kissed you?”

“Yeah. He’s gone through, like, six different identity crises since he last saw you. I was changing his bandages and he just kissed me. It’s the closest he’s been to the Bucky I used to know since… well, since I used to know him.” She thinks he’s smiling, but she can’t tell. 

“Well. I’m happy for you, really.” She  _ is _ . “I hope you can get the… programming under control.”

“Thank you, Natasha.”  _ For not killing him. _

“Give Barnes my best.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was short, i'm just publishing as i go :) <3

**Author's Note:**

> lmk if you liked this in the comments!! twitter and tumblr are @hvtchner :)


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